I have to ask, I saw a high resolution picture of a B-52: Have they indeed stolen the main landing gear from a piper seneca to use as outriggers on the B-52?
I watched this B-52 land. I was on the M highway on my way to Cambridge from RAF Mildenhall. It had to come in real low because the runway at Duxford is almost too short of that aircraft to land. The thing just cleared the perimeter fence. AN OUTSTANDING JOB OF AIRMANSHIP!
JetMechMA - His Name was James Ray Nerger. Uncle Jim retired with right at 10,000 hours in 52s. If it bounced a bit , there was good reason HE decided to do so. He dropped off several old birds in many places all over the world one being in Battleship Parkway in Mobile Ala. I pass it everytime I go see my family in Fla. Its pretty cool but,, it also sucks. As a family member of Jims, thank you for your kind words I'm not joking when I say he was my hero, and I watch this short film clip often
Just a word of thanks to all the replies ( well most of them!). I never guessed, when I posted this 2 years ago, that it would get nearly 30,000 views. It's great to hear from people who knew the pilot and flew in this aircraft.
Interesting to hear about "tail first" take off's - I've noticed in other videos that they adopt a nose down attitude after getting airborne to gain speed before climbing away, rather like helicopters.
A few years later I ran into this pilot again ...at Airframe and Powerplant school there in Fort Worth Texas. He had bought his own plane and wanted to be able to work on it himself. Great guy, very down to Earth as you can probably tell. Most of them were good guys but some were really ate up. This guy was military all the way....REAL military....not bullshit military. He was the real deal. A combat veteran. High standards but a positive guy, not overbearing. The best.
@JetMechMA You got him right. He was a great guy, and ohhh yes-- REAL military and my hero for the better part of my life. His tail dragger was his second personal plane his first was hit by a tornado just outside of Knox Ind - while he was visiting his mother. A stroke took him unexpectadly while he was in the hospital for suspected ?pluracy?, his wife followed just a couple months later. Uncle Jim and Aunt Jean are missed - - everyday.
@08RoushStage3: Uncle Jim and Aunt Jean are missed - - everyday.
JM: Words can't describe how highly we regarded him.....but forgive me, I forget his name after all these years. Can you remind us? If he was the one I went to A&P classes with, he told me his plane was a 182, is that right? The other guys used to raz him about asking so many questions (because he wanted to learn) And I gave them a heads-up about who he was. He walked on water after they found out he was a real aviation hero.
I flew this airplane and knew the pilot interviewed. Yes, the B-52 should be flared lest it 'porpoise'. This pilot was more concerned with landing on 'the first brick' of the extremely short runway than with a pretty landing. Usually we would have 12000 feet or so of runway and use about a half to two thirds of it in the flare and rollout. In my 30 years of flying jets, I can say that the B-52 is the most difficult to land of all - BY FAR.
It's got a totally different landing gear to most other planes - the weight is spread evenly between front and rear bogies. I assume that in normal operations from very long runways it is just "flown on" to the runway in a level attitude. Maybe one of the guys who flew it during its operational career would tell us more?
@satwatcher I launched that aircraft out of Carswell that day. It wasn't my plane but The regular Crew Chief was already re-assigned to the newer B-52H models by then. Planes like this were being parcelled out as the announcer said, to various museums and gate guard positions. They take off tail first and land as you said, they just fly it onto the ruinway. This one bounced quite a bit but the guy flying was the Pilot Squadron wing safety officer. A Full Bird Colonel and a Vietnam vet.
The B-52 has a very large angle of incidence (built-in positive angle of attack) in its wings, so it may remain level or even slightly nose-down in situations where most other aircraft would be distinctly nose-up. The wings always have a positive angle of attack, but since they are at such a significant angle with respect to the fuselage, sometimes the rest of the airframe is level or nose-down. So it can flare without appearing to do so.
i went to duxford about 8 months ago and when u get real close up to it well MY GOD ITS HUGE!!!! IVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT THAT WAS PROBERLY THE BIGGEST THING I EVER SAW U REALLY MUST SEE IT ITS FANTASTIC
@bmgm3 They were just building it I believe. I think someone once told me that the B52 was the last thing to land on the runway before it was shortened by the road. Not sure on that though.
@flonogorida I saw lots of Japanese visitors to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. Now days lots of Americans visit Vietnam. War was the bad old days. Those days are gone, thank God. Now we can all just marvel at the technology. Not to forget, but to put it in it's proper perspective I think.
I last flew this airplane on November 1, 1982 as a pilot in the 20th Bombardment Squadron, 7th Bombardment (Heavy) Wing at Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, Texas (30 miles west of Dallas) This video brings back wonderful memories of a fantastic aircraft.
@Night56Owl Never knew this video was on the internet till my father,, (Jim's brother) sent it to me this morning, so yes,, that makes the pilot my Uncle, he is missed.
@Night56Owl Uh....Fort Worth isn't 40 miles west of nothin. We don't speak of that OTHER city....LOL. Good to hear from fellow Carswellites of the '80s. It was so very then, wasn't it? Also, wasn't it great to be stationed across from the General Dynamics plant and see all the F-16 flight activity?
Like the Concorde it'll never be able to leave. Although for the Concorde I understand it landed before they shortened the runway to make room for the M11.
iv been to duxford to see it and its HUGE!!!its the shortest runway its ever had to land on it cost 4,500 million pounds to build not including the bombs and all the other stuff its amazing id recomend that every1 goes thier
great vid, thanks for posting mate, ive been to Duxford and seen this plane so many times, even before they put it in the american air museum, love it
@mrrmancunian We watched this video back at Carswell and everybody said, "OHHHH !" when he bounced her in. But all in good fun. This pilot was VERY highly regarded among us Crew Chiefs back then.
The "vlcan" is "shit". What a ridiculous statement! Both aircraft were developed around the same time, but the Vulcan was much smaller as it needed less range to hit targets its in the USSR.
Ask the Argentine junta of 1982 if the Vulcan was "shit". It frightened them into holding back all their Mirage IIIs to protect Buenos Aires from possible Vulcan raids.
and the Vulcan was rolled on its first test flight just after take off, it along with the other V bombers the Vailiant and the Victor were the best early cold war bombers, its great that XH558 is now flying again.
@nolifemerc The B52 had much longer range than the Vulcan because it was designed to fly from the mid-west of the USA over the polar region to strike targets in the central Soviet Union. These missions required air refuelling, which was why SAC procured so many KC-135 tankers. Of course, the B-52 could have been stationed further north, including in Alaska (although i don't think it was), but this does not alter the fact its characterstics were dictated by the intended long range missions.
u say that yet the gr4 tornado bombing capability is amazing, yes i agree the b-52 can blanket bomb like hell but does the overkill of that beat the precision of the tornados bombing delivering a slightly smaller payload but more effectively?
we had a fight in high school over whether the b-52 was better or the Vulcan. So we just gave the buff to them?? I saw a B-52 on approach to Miramar, never saw such a wide profile before, missed it actually landing over the highway.
Thanks for posting. While a USAF volunteer at Duxford, I met my future wife on the B-52 here. Later we were married under Vulcan XM605 at Castle AFB, CA, one of the Vulcans mentioned in the piece
Short field landings is often the last part the student pilot needs additional help with when getting his/her wings. This pilot did the right thing. You could see the first time he came in hot and high. This warrented the "go-around". Last time he came in low and slow. Probably aiming at a point in the grass so he would touch down just as runway was made available to do it on.
Great video. Thanks for posting. I love the way you can just see the wings flex on that first bounce. Still an impressive display aircraft in the American Air Museum.
Excellent video thanks for sharing. My grandparents lived at the end of the runway near Carswell AFB. I watched many a B-52 land and depart from there. Who knows I may have seen this one at one time or the other. I sure missed it when the D models left. Don't get me wrong the H models were nice too just not the same. I sure hated when they all left in 1992.
@southpaw0793 I was stationed at Carswell in the early '80s and lived near Ridgemar Mall. I launched this aircraft out that day...along with a few other D models as they were retired. We stripped them of most of their equipment and sometimes the pilots would do a high performance take-off at ridiculously low take-off weights for a buff. By now we've all seen videos of that type of performance but back then it was jaw dropping. (They did it over Ridgemar Mall too !)
I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall when this event took place. Carswell AFB was my former base and I logged many hours in this airframe as an Electronic Warfare Officer. Jim Nerger was the pilot if I am not mistaken.
I have been to that musuem. It is definately worth the visit.
TacomaAttorney 2 weeks ago
I have to ask, I saw a high resolution picture of a B-52: Have they indeed stolen the main landing gear from a piper seneca to use as outriggers on the B-52?
Tjita1 6 months ago
I get goose bumps everytime I watch this video. Awesome, just awesome.
smacman68 8 months ago
I watched this B-52 land. I was on the M highway on my way to Cambridge from RAF Mildenhall. It had to come in real low because the runway at Duxford is almost too short of that aircraft to land. The thing just cleared the perimeter fence. AN OUTSTANDING JOB OF AIRMANSHIP!
salawatt 10 months ago
8/2005
08RoushStage3 10 months ago
JetMechMA - His Name was James Ray Nerger. Uncle Jim retired with right at 10,000 hours in 52s. If it bounced a bit , there was good reason HE decided to do so. He dropped off several old birds in many places all over the world one being in Battleship Parkway in Mobile Ala. I pass it everytime I go see my family in Fla. Its pretty cool but,, it also sucks. As a family member of Jims, thank you for your kind words I'm not joking when I say he was my hero, and I watch this short film clip often
08RoushStage3 10 months ago
that things friggin huge!
Doogz13 1 year ago
Yes it's the one in the American air museum .
wamb17 1 year ago
is that the plane in the American Air Museum?
nianoodlesmum 1 year ago
Nice Gesture, but War is so seedy, that relic has snuffed out how many lives???
kook2222 1 year ago
Just a word of thanks to all the replies ( well most of them!). I never guessed, when I posted this 2 years ago, that it would get nearly 30,000 views. It's great to hear from people who knew the pilot and flew in this aircraft.
Interesting to hear about "tail first" take off's - I've noticed in other videos that they adopt a nose down attitude after getting airborne to gain speed before climbing away, rather like helicopters.
satwatcher 1 year ago
A few years later I ran into this pilot again ...at Airframe and Powerplant school there in Fort Worth Texas. He had bought his own plane and wanted to be able to work on it himself. Great guy, very down to Earth as you can probably tell. Most of them were good guys but some were really ate up. This guy was military all the way....REAL military....not bullshit military. He was the real deal. A combat veteran. High standards but a positive guy, not overbearing. The best.
JetMechMA 1 year ago
@JetMechMA You got him right. He was a great guy, and ohhh yes-- REAL military and my hero for the better part of my life. His tail dragger was his second personal plane his first was hit by a tornado just outside of Knox Ind - while he was visiting his mother. A stroke took him unexpectadly while he was in the hospital for suspected ?pluracy?, his wife followed just a couple months later. Uncle Jim and Aunt Jean are missed - - everyday.
08RoushStage3 10 months ago
@08RoushStage3: Uncle Jim and Aunt Jean are missed - - everyday.
JM: Words can't describe how highly we regarded him.....but forgive me, I forget his name after all these years. Can you remind us? If he was the one I went to A&P classes with, he told me his plane was a 182, is that right? The other guys used to raz him about asking so many questions (because he wanted to learn) And I gave them a heads-up about who he was. He walked on water after they found out he was a real aviation hero.
JetMechMA 10 months ago
@08RoushStage3 May I ask what year he passed away?
JetMechMA 10 months ago
To all the people that think it should of flared. The b-52 was not meant to flare because of the type of landing gear
TheQuincyT118 1 year ago
I flew this airplane and knew the pilot interviewed. Yes, the B-52 should be flared lest it 'porpoise'. This pilot was more concerned with landing on 'the first brick' of the extremely short runway than with a pretty landing. Usually we would have 12000 feet or so of runway and use about a half to two thirds of it in the flare and rollout. In my 30 years of flying jets, I can say that the B-52 is the most difficult to land of all - BY FAR.
tackle98 1 year ago
Serious wings
starview1 1 year ago
Never knew this video was on the internet till my father,, (Jim's brother) sent it to me this morning, so yes,, that makes the pilot my Uncle.
He is missed.
08RoushStage3 1 year ago
I have seen that B-52 in Duxford. Awesome sight, it's huge.
But built in 1956, that is mind-boggling, not only is this thing older than me, it's even older than my parents.
catfish552 1 year ago
doesnt it need to flare?
72david72lp 2 years ago
It's got a totally different landing gear to most other planes - the weight is spread evenly between front and rear bogies. I assume that in normal operations from very long runways it is just "flown on" to the runway in a level attitude. Maybe one of the guys who flew it during its operational career would tell us more?
satwatcher 2 years ago
@satwatcher I launched that aircraft out of Carswell that day. It wasn't my plane but The regular Crew Chief was already re-assigned to the newer B-52H models by then. Planes like this were being parcelled out as the announcer said, to various museums and gate guard positions. They take off tail first and land as you said, they just fly it onto the ruinway. This one bounced quite a bit but the guy flying was the Pilot Squadron wing safety officer. A Full Bird Colonel and a Vietnam vet.
JetMechMA 1 year ago
The B-52 has a very large angle of incidence (built-in positive angle of attack) in its wings, so it may remain level or even slightly nose-down in situations where most other aircraft would be distinctly nose-up. The wings always have a positive angle of attack, but since they are at such a significant angle with respect to the fuselage, sometimes the rest of the airframe is level or nose-down. So it can flare without appearing to do so.
Mxsmanic 1 year ago
i went to duxford about 8 months ago and when u get real close up to it well MY GOD ITS HUGE!!!! IVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT THAT WAS PROBERLY THE BIGGEST THING I EVER SAW U REALLY MUST SEE IT ITS FANTASTIC
ttyo127 2 years ago
Christ ! That must have scared the crap out of anyone driving up the M11 when that came into land. Hang on, was the M11 even there in 1983 ?
What a machine ...
bmgm3 2 years ago
@bmgm3 They were just building it I believe. I think someone once told me that the B52 was the last thing to land on the runway before it was shortened by the road. Not sure on that though.
edj66 1 year ago
vietnameese immigrants probably dont go anywhere near the american exhibits especially this one
flonogorida 2 years ago
@flonogorida I saw lots of Japanese visitors to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. Now days lots of Americans visit Vietnam. War was the bad old days. Those days are gone, thank God. Now we can all just marvel at the technology. Not to forget, but to put it in it's proper perspective I think.
JetMechMA 1 year ago
I wonder how many lives that snuffed out in Vietnam. Must be thousands.
happymana 2 years ago
I last flew this airplane on November 1, 1982 as a pilot in the 20th Bombardment Squadron, 7th Bombardment (Heavy) Wing at Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, Texas (30 miles west of Dallas) This video brings back wonderful memories of a fantastic aircraft.
Night56Owl 2 years ago
@Night56Owl Never knew this video was on the internet till my father,, (Jim's brother) sent it to me this morning, so yes,, that makes the pilot my Uncle, he is missed.
08RoushStage3 1 year ago
@Night56Owl Uh....Fort Worth isn't 40 miles west of nothin. We don't speak of that OTHER city....LOL. Good to hear from fellow Carswellites of the '80s. It was so very then, wasn't it? Also, wasn't it great to be stationed across from the General Dynamics plant and see all the F-16 flight activity?
JetMechMA 1 year ago
Interesting plane. The landing gear looks so unconventional.
scaremenga 2 years ago
lol if it lands theres no way it's ever gonna get back up!
tobskybobski 2 years ago
Like the Concorde it'll never be able to leave. Although for the Concorde I understand it landed before they shortened the runway to make room for the M11.
063209dr 2 years ago
@063209dr They had to pause building a section of the M11 to let Concorde land, one of the guides @ Duxford informed me during my visit last month.
linearskater 1 year ago
God damn! Talk about a carrier landing! I wonder what that felt like for the crew.
stuntmanmike37 2 years ago
iv been to duxford to see it and its HUGE!!!its the shortest runway its ever had to land on it cost 4,500 million pounds to build not including the bombs and all the other stuff its amazing id recomend that every1 goes thier
ttyo127 2 years ago
great vid, thanks for posting mate, ive been to Duxford and seen this plane so many times, even before they put it in the american air museum, love it
Dazfeeder 2 years ago
satwatcher how you said permanent doesn't surprise me how the way it went thud into the runway!
FLINTY876 2 years ago
Blimey, I bet thats one of the shortest landings a B-52 as had to do!
Hanglands 2 years ago
Actually, it is in fact the shortest runway a B-52 has ever landed on.
mrrmancunian 2 years ago
@mrrmancunian We watched this video back at Carswell and everybody said, "OHHHH !" when he bounced her in. But all in good fun. This pilot was VERY highly regarded among us Crew Chiefs back then.
JetMechMA 1 year ago
I love YouTube comments
kjsh987's "vlcan is british shit."
Sheer genius :-)
plonk7 2 years ago
The "vlcan" is "shit". What a ridiculous statement! Both aircraft were developed around the same time, but the Vulcan was much smaller as it needed less range to hit targets its in the USSR.
Ask the Argentine junta of 1982 if the Vulcan was "shit". It frightened them into holding back all their Mirage IIIs to protect Buenos Aires from possible Vulcan raids.
dph524 2 years ago 10
the black buck raids :)
and the Vulcan was rolled on its first test flight just after take off, it along with the other V bombers the Vailiant and the Victor were the best early cold war bombers, its great that XH558 is now flying again.
fairclought7 2 years ago 6
@dph524 actually this is only some truth, it depens where th b52 was stationed, maybe alaska also and then you are in russia in 1 hour
nolifemerc 1 year ago
@nolifemerc The B52 had much longer range than the Vulcan because it was designed to fly from the mid-west of the USA over the polar region to strike targets in the central Soviet Union. These missions required air refuelling, which was why SAC procured so many KC-135 tankers. Of course, the B-52 could have been stationed further north, including in Alaska (although i don't think it was), but this does not alter the fact its characterstics were dictated by the intended long range missions.
dph524 1 year ago
Comment removed
dph524 2 years ago
the b-52 is the single greatest bomber ever made beware VC and NVA gooks
sandythebear 2 years ago
u say that yet the gr4 tornado bombing capability is amazing, yes i agree the b-52 can blanket bomb like hell but does the overkill of that beat the precision of the tornados bombing delivering a slightly smaller payload but more effectively?
UkWhiteboyy 2 years ago
we had a fight in high school over whether the b-52 was better or the Vulcan. So we just gave the buff to them?? I saw a B-52 on approach to Miramar, never saw such a wide profile before, missed it actually landing over the highway.
biukucanoe 2 years ago
Thanks for posting. While a USAF volunteer at Duxford, I met my future wife on the B-52 here. Later we were married under Vulcan XM605 at Castle AFB, CA, one of the Vulcans mentioned in the piece
teambears 3 years ago
Short field landings is often the last part the student pilot needs additional help with when getting his/her wings. This pilot did the right thing. You could see the first time he came in hot and high. This warrented the "go-around". Last time he came in low and slow. Probably aiming at a point in the grass so he would touch down just as runway was made available to do it on.
XB70Playboy 3 years ago
seen it many times in the American air museum but never realised it actually flew there what a sight that must have been.. Great Vid
p4uky 3 years ago
ive sat in that acctual plane .. awsome is what i gotta say.. everything is the same as the scene at about 1:49.. amazing how it landed there!!
jamesnewitt 3 years ago
Great video. Thanks for posting. I love the way you can just see the wings flex on that first bounce. Still an impressive display aircraft in the American Air Museum.
Hanglands 3 years ago
Excellent video thanks for sharing. My grandparents lived at the end of the runway near Carswell AFB. I watched many a B-52 land and depart from there. Who knows I may have seen this one at one time or the other. I sure missed it when the D models left. Don't get me wrong the H models were nice too just not the same. I sure hated when they all left in 1992.
southpaw0793 3 years ago
@southpaw0793 I was stationed at Carswell in the early '80s and lived near Ridgemar Mall. I launched this aircraft out that day...along with a few other D models as they were retired. We stripped them of most of their equipment and sometimes the pilots would do a high performance take-off at ridiculously low take-off weights for a buff. By now we've all seen videos of that type of performance but back then it was jaw dropping. (They did it over Ridgemar Mall too !)
JetMechMA 1 year ago
I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall when this event took place. Carswell AFB was my former base and I logged many hours in this airframe as an Electronic Warfare Officer. Jim Nerger was the pilot if I am not mistaken.
tommytowery 3 years ago
Great video!....nice piece of aviation history.
Bodneyblue 3 years ago
When looking at the B52 at Duxford i've often wondered how tight it was landing that plane on a WW2 airfield. thanx.
chandlerbingbong 3 years ago
great video cracking stuff if only i was there when it landed
batfinks123 3 years ago